Boar and wild pigs continue to expand their range.

Can we stop boar and wild pig populations from ever expanding?

The boar are coming, the boar are coming. Boar and wild pigs are about to take over the world!

That is the notion readers can get whenever they look at hunting related and general publications. Frantic stories about exploding boar and wild pig populations in California, in the United States and worldwide, breathless invocation of ever more serious dreadful diseases boar are said to be spreading to humans and seemingly endless lists of attacks by wild pigs and boar on grandmothers, churchgoers and innocent children alike seem to be daily occurrences. Not only in California and the United States but worldwide.

What is truth and what is sensationalism?

Fact is that wild pig populations in the United States have greatly increased their numbers and range. Today an estimated two to six million boar roam the American countryside, up from an estimated maximum of 2 million in the early eighties.

Then boar and/or wild pigs lived in 17 States, now they are at home in forty-four .

According to Jack Mayer, wild pig expert at the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, an 'established wild pig' population exists when the number of pigs has reached a 'critical mass' and the animals have gained a foothold in a geographical area. Established populations are strong enough in numbers to survive even the most determined efforts of eradication by “outbreeding” any losses from eradication measures. Twenty-one states have permanently established wild pig populations.

Smaller populations can be successfully removed. We have 12 states that fall into this category. Their wild pig populations are 'transitional' or 'emerging'. They can still be controlled by trapping and vigorous hunting.

Another 11 states are in even better shape because only a few individual pigs have been spotted in the wild. Mayer classifies then as having “recent releases/escapees.”

Only six states are free of wild pigs – at least for now.

Here is a state by state breakdown, courtesy of Jack Mayer via Naples News:

Established wild populations: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii; Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia.

Transitional/emerging wild populations: Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.

Recent wild releases/escapees: Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont.

Free of wild pigs: Connecticut, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, Utah, Wyoming.

Many of the states with a wild pig problem allow hunting year long and without bag limits in addition to official trapping and other control efforts. Success is limited and not permanent despite all of these measures. The reason for that is that the boar have enough protected areas in which they can replenish their numbers after even the most sustained and vigorous eradication efforts. Most prominent among these are national parks, wildlife refuges and privately owned lands.

Take for example California. Almost all wild pigs live on private lands. Public land is generally almost completely boar free because of extreme hunting pressure, habitat destruction and marginal habitat. On the other hand, ranchers and farmers scream murder about damage done by dastardly wild pigs to cash crops and even livestock.

Or take Texas. The state is overrun by wild pigs, yet ranchers still charge high access and guide fees that have little to do with supply and demand. The supply outstrips demand by far. But access and guide fees remain exorbitant.

In fact, despite the damage from wild pigs to crops and environment alike, landowners hardly ever allow hunters access to their property. Some of it can be attributed to the desire to benefit from an additional source of income, but hunters must accept the fact that a few bad apples among them have brought this upon all hunters. When you disrespect another persons property in any way, you cannot complain about being locked out of paradise.

And here is something for landowners to think about. If they allow strong wild pig populations on their properties in order to run a thriving boar hunting and guide business, then they should be forced to pay out of their own pocket for the damage done by 'their' pigs. Hunters in Central Europe who own hunting leases have to keep game populations at certain preset levels. If they do not and there is damage, then the hunter has to reimburse the owners of the property for the damage.

Maybe we should apply this in reverse to the States and think of asking property owners who let wild pig populations get out of control to feed their business and keep guides happy to pay themselves for damage done to their crops and property instead of asking for someone else to pay for it – or to allow hunters on their property until the wild pigs are under control.

It could possibly make a dent into burgeoning, out of control boar populations and motivate landowners to rethink their attitude towards boar hunters on their land.

Will boar and wild pigs take over the world?

The number of boar in Germany has grown by 300 percent in only a few years. Other European countries experience similar growth of their boar populations. This trend is also manifest in Asian countries.

But are boar really poised to take over the world? I do not think so. Determined and sustained eradication measures, sustained hunting, birth control measures and eventually the environment will most likely set an upper limit for the numbers of boar an environment can sustain.

Equally exaggerated are the numerous reports about rogue boar digging up the dead, chasing policemen, granny, priests and children alike. Many of these reports, including the ones about the dreadful diseases carried by boar, are single incidents that are repeatedly dredged up and paraded around by the media looking for yet another sensational story.

I must have read the story about the four hapless hikers being chased into a trash container at least a dozen times in news media from all around the world. There must be something quite fascinating about four hikers in a trash bin. Or is it that the boar were looking for a handout from inside of the trash container?

Which reminds me of the prediction that only cockroaches will survive nuclear war. I believe boar and wild pigs also will.

Planet of the Pigs – coming soon in a theater near you!

PJJ